Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Yeah, and I'm with PacificOceanBlue that in context, I'm glad they edited it out as it would have seemed too weird to include on a soundtrack LP. Now if Guitar Man/What I'd Say was the opening track on a new 1967/8 studio album of like-minded material that's a different story. One can dream.

 

The first part of the session spanned six hours (6 pm to 12 am) and they only recorded two songs (Guitar Man and Big Boss Man). Six hours is a long time for just two songs, so that suggests maybe they were sitting around waiting for Reed part of the time. On the flipside, all the outtakes feature Reed, so if they made attempts to get the guitar sound without him, it was not at this session or it was in the form of rehearsing without the tape rolling.

I agree with you, particularly in this case, since there's since a disparity of sound/quality between the film songs and the bonus songs. It's really weird to intersperse them, and it would have worked better to have one side of each. At this point though, they seemed to be clinging to the notion that soundtracks were more commercially appealing to record buyers, despite the fact that hadn't been true for awhile. So they seemingly didn't want to make it look like an album that was half soundtrack/half studio.

I guess this shouldn't surprise me, given how our tastes differ. I was planning to come on here and mention that I think Clambake is easily the worst title song of any Elvis film ever. I really detest the song "Shortnin' Bread."

 

I think it is in this thread that somebody suggested I read Alannah Nash's "Baby I Want to Play House" Elvis bio, and I did. So here's my quick review, for what it's worth.

I didn't like the book at all. First, the whole thing is framed in the psycho-pop idea that everything Elvis did and felt and thought is ultimately rooted in the fact he had a twin who died at birth, and on his relationship with his mother. A single pop-psychologist is quoted throughout, making outlandish and evidence-free assertions regarding Elvis' inner thoughts, always coming back to the one pet theory regarding his dead twin and mother. It's ridiculous psycho-babble that, while not the main part of the book, almost discredits automatically the whole thing.

Second, Elvis' women's contributions to the book can be divided into two kinds : tell-all, sexually-frank, almost-pornographic descriptions of how he made love, which feel like they were commissioned by Playboy magazine, and are not even juicy (spoilers : Elvis made love to his women like pretty much any other man.) The other kind is boring, superficial, tell-nothing testimony about Elvis as a boyfriend, which usually come down to : "he was sweet, polite, a little shy, and it was great fun".

You always get the feeling throughout that the author if very biased : some sources she doesn't seem to take seriously, while others are given pride of place, usually based on whether they fit with the preordained narrative.

I had refrained from reading any of Nash's books on Elvis based on what I realize was a stereotype: I didn't think a woman author could write about Elvis the kind of book I would be interested in reading from my perspective as a (male) fan. Turns out my stereotype was well-founded.

 

After Elvis passed away, Reed on one of the Radio shows talked how great it was working with Elvis, and thought they were going to do a lot more songs, but it didn't happen. Reed didn't go into any details why it didn't happen. Reed also said, Elvis needed to get out more often than staying cooped up with his yes-men.

 

Is there anything to suggest that Elvis' tomorrow is a long time inspired Dylan's return to roots?

 

Nope. Dylan has never said anything of the sort, and Elvis' arrangement of Tomorrow is a Long Time pretty much copies Odetta's, so if Dylan was inspired by anything it was Odetta. A lot of people were still doing folky Dylan covers during his time doing rock and roll, though.

As to Guitar Man, it may have been released before Dylan's John Wesley Harding, but Dylan had started writing and recording the Basement Tapes material in July of 1967, so he'd made the decision to go back to basics months before Elvis released that record.

 

Cheers.
Just a thought

 

But it would be duets backed by an orchestra and an introduction by Priscilla on how Elvis would have wanted it this way.

 

I am so thankful that Elvis was not one to go into psychedelic music or become trendy. Not that I am against psychedelic music, it is just so embarrassing when artists jump on a bandwagon with no real connection to the music, like when Pat Boone does a "heavy metal" album.

Can you imagine Elvis singing I Am The Walrus with backward guitars and the like? His take on Hey Jude was bad enough.

 

I don’t think Elvis inspired Dylan to go back to basics, just that, as I said above, they both started heading in that direction around the same time, and before the trend for psychedelia has really peaked. Elvis would still flirt with that trend with Edge of Reality before really getting back to his roots during the 1969 Memphis sessions.

 

I really like Edge Of Reality. Too bad an early Billy Strange session was cancelled due to a fatal accident. I really like what Billy Strange brought in the couple of session he was involved in.

 

If the August 1967 Billy Strange session had happened, it's possible (likely?) the September 1967 Guitar Man session would not have. Or I guess it's possible they would have done both, and had enough material for an album. It is interesting to ponder, because it also could have led to Strange becoming more actively involved in producing Elvis on a regular basis. As noted, he did a nice job on the soundtracks he was involved with. Here's the list of songs that they were planning to record at the August 1967 session. Interesting that more than half of them are songs Elvis never did get around to recording:
We Call On Him
If This Love Is Wrong
Here Comes Tomorrow
Ramblin' Rose
From A Jack To A King
After Loving You
Guitar Man
And I Tell The Sea
Brown Eyed Handsome Man
I'll Never Find Another You
Tonight I Won't Be There
Baby, What You Want Me To Do

 

I feel the same way. Wow, that horn chart was pretty awesome on Edge Of Reality and The Wrecking Crew really gave Elvis's sound a much needed punch. I too would have liked to have heard more from the Billy Strange/Elvis combination. I am glad we got those four songs that Strange produced at least. Interesting too how he was replaced by Billy Goldenberg on the 68 Comeback Special.

 

They did bring him back as arranger/conductor on The Trouble With Girls material also. There's no credited producer on them, so it appears he was kind of the de facto producer on those sessions.

 

Same with the title song to Charro.

 

With the right producer and group of songs, I suspect Elvis could have produced an intriguing psychedelic pop album. It did not have to be over the top, rather it could have been tastefully done. Are you familiar with Del Shannon's "The Further Adventures of Charles Westover?" Del find the right balance, and I suspect Elvis could have done the same under the right circumstances.

 

I don't think Elvis needed to try and make A saucerful of secrets or astronomy domine.... but if Edge of reality is considered to be a touch psychedelic, i would have had no problem with him going there ... fantastic song, and coming soon to a thread near you

 

100% agree PacificOceanBlue. Although I doubt anyone would ever see Elvis performing in peace beads and nehru jackets (He had his own style period), I could easily see Elvis venturing into psychedelic music of the time. Rather than a Jefferson Airplane feel, it would be closer to a 5th Dimension thing I think. I sure liked "Edge Of Reality". Despite Elvis' poor career moves in the mid 1960's, he was still iconic enough to cross over into personally uncharted musical territory. He was much more capable than the box he was usually consigned to.

 

GLITCH IN THE MATRIX!!!!! LOL! Funny how the mind plays tricks. I had some time to pull up the "Million Dollar Quartet" album on the computer and give it a new listen in over 20 years. It's not "What Now, What Next, Where To?" that I heard but it was "Is It So Strange?". This is where my mind must have formed a Mandela Effect vortex with these songs. Not only are both song titles questions, they both were on the Separate Ways album which is where I first heard both of them (I had totally forgot that since I bought the Double Trouble soundtrack LP years later). That is freaky how memories can be so easily modified.

 

Who Needs Money
Written By :
Randy Starr

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, February 21-23, 1967: February 22 & 23, 1967 and March 6, 1967. master take splice

This track ends up being a duet with Ray Walker. I must admit that I like this song. A bouncy little song with a message. Sure this track isn't Edge Of Reality, If I can Dream or Wearing That Loved On Look, but it is still a good song and serves it purpose in the movie.

 

House That Has Everything.
Written By :
Roy C. Bennett & Sid Tepper

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, February 21-23, 1967: February 21 & 22, 1967. take 8

Well I like this track too. Perhaps it's because I enjoyed the movie. Here Elvis is singing to a girl he likes, and she has set herself up to be a gold digger essentially, and doesn't realise that he is a millionaire ... which is the whole point of the previous song, as he trades places with a ski coach for a while, to try and find the love of his life who thinks he is poor....

 

I think I'd like Who Needs Money? more if we had a version where Elvis sang the entire thing. At times I quite enjoy the overdone, showtune-like lyrics (so strained they're good), and the tune is catchy, but I just can't get past the other guy's voice.

A House That Has Everything is pretty dull, imo. The most memorable part about it is the scene in the movie where Elvis just grabs a guitar out of nowhere (they're on a beach!) and starts singing. Actually, speaking of the movie, I much prefer the version that's in the movie to the soundtrack version. The string overdubs are cheesy, but they make the song more interesting, and Elvis' voice doesn't sound as thick as it does on the record.

 

Who Needs Money is one of the two songs I don't care for on this album. Due in almost sole part to Ray Walker's sandpaper-grating vocal. House That Has Everything is what I call mid-century modern, as I can see it being played in a house of that style. Not bad, but not great either.

 

That is the distinction that should be made, just because an artist may have produced a psychedelic pop album, does not mean the artist needed to be an active member of the counterculture and adopt certain social political views and fashion styles. Nevertheless, it was never going to happen (and did not happen). Elvis was in a challenging set of circumstances circa 1967 because his professional reputation was so damaged and tied to his lightweight formulaic films, so even if he had completed a non-soundtrack album in the mode of "Guitar Man," I am not convinced it would have been successful without a focused marketing and promotional campaign specifically designed to reinvent and change the narrative (much like Binder's vision from 1968).

 

Well, I really should not like Who Needs Money? as this is exactly the type of show tune that Elvis should stay away from in my opinion, despite the movie context, and yet strangely enough, he sings it pretty well and I imagine Elvis was delighted to share a little limelight with his bass singer, Ray Walker. I should not like this performance, but I do. The lyrics are funny and the piano playing is pretty great too.

A House That Has Everything is a pretty, though unspectacular song and performance. Clambake is another album I was reluctant to pull out of the Album Collection box set because of the terrible title, but in reality, it is a better album than its title track implies, especially with those non-soundtrack songs and Elvis's fantastic single versions of You Don't Know Me and Guitar Man, the former of which I know we will be getting to in a couple of songs. As a kid, I surely would have passed this album over with its terrible title and weak cover art, which was really too bad, because the contents within are pretty good to my ears now.